No. No single baseline for any development project can hope to solve ocean science and answer every question. A baseline project is not an unbounded ocean research exercise. The scope of a baseline project is defined by an EIA Scoping Study that identifies the parameters essential to assessing impacts and that directly connect to monitoring key indicators. However, there is an interface between a baseline project and regional and global ocean science objectives. By aggregating results across several individual baseline projects using consistent methods, regional assessments are made, and by integrating across information sources, the knowledge of global ocean science is improved. Publishing the objective findings of baseline studies is a key global knowledge enhancement process.
